Improved bag-frame



NITED STATES PATENT Querce.

WILLIAM T. MERSEBEAU, OE NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVED BAG-FRAM E.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,190, dated April 24,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. MERSE- REAU, of Newark, Essex county, NewJersey, have invented, made, and applied to use certain new and usefulImprovements in the Construction of Carpet-Bag Frames, and I do declarethe following to be a full, clear, and correct description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which-Figure l is a view of my improved carpetbag frame when closed; Fig. 2, aview of the same when opened.

In the drawings like parts of theinvention are indicated by the sameletters of reference.

The nature ot' my invention consists in certain new and usefulimprovements in the construction of carpet-bag frames, as hereinafterdescribed.

The object of my invention is to greatly reduce the cost ofmanufacturing the frames of carpet-bags, and at the same time to producea very much more substantial article than has heretofore been used.

To enable others skilled in the arts to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe the same.

A shows the cover of my improved frame, formed of wrought-iron or anysuitable metal, and bent into the proper or required shape.

B is a wooden support placed directly beneath the front edge of thesame, to which it is secured by means of the nails c, which nails alsopass through and hold the leather or other material forming the bag, oneend of the same being inserted between the cover A and the support Bbefore the nails are driven into the same.

On some occasions it may be preferable that the leather or othermaterial forming the bag should be sewed to the frame rather than heldby means of the nails c, in which case the wooden support B is providedwith the openings d, through which the needle, in sewing the material tothe frame, is passed.

C shows the jaw of my improved frame, which jaw may be made ofwrought-iron or any suitable metal, and is riveted to the lowerextremities of the cover A by means otl the rivets e passing through thesame. This jaw C, a short distance above the point of its being rivetedto the cover A, is bent outward from the inside of the cover A, and ismade sufficiently smaller than the cover A to admit of its being closedfully within the same when the bag is closed and locked.

B2 shows a wooden support placed directly beneath the jaw C, to which itis secured lby means of the nails c, which nails also pass through andhold the leather or other material forming the bag, one end of theleather or other material being inserted between the jaw C and thesupport B2 before the nails are driven into the same. This woodensupport B2 is also provided with the openings d2, to admit of theleather or other material being sewed to the jaw C, as stated in thecase ot' the cover A.

My improved carpet-bag frame being thus constructed, it will be observedthat when the same is closed the jaw G is brought entirely within thecover A, thus closing the mouth of the bag much more firmly than in thecarpetbag at present in use, and preventing the hand being thrustbetween the jaw and the cover into the bag, as is quite common in bagsmounted upon a frame constructed in the usual way. In fact, no accesscan be had to the interior of a bag mounted upon a frame constructed asdescribed without first unlocking the same.

Again, by constructing the bag-frame as described the cost ofmanufacturing the same is greatly reduced, as the use of stays orbrackets heretofore employed is dispensed with, while the same is muchmore substantially' constructed, and is rendered more durable andeconomical in every respect.

The wooden supports B and B2 may have attached to them the lock andhandle of the bag.

While I have shown the jaw C as bent outward from the inside of thecover A, I am aware that precisely the saine result may be attained ifthe cover, instead of the jaw, be bent outward, the object to beattained by said bending being that the jaw shall, 'when closed, beclosed entirely within the cover.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The jaw G, in combination with the cover A, when the same shall beconstructed and combined, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

WVM. T. MERSEBEAU.

In presence of A. SiDNEY DoANE, STEPHEN M. OsTRANDER.

